There is nothing french about this dish. I remember seeing the recipe on a tv advert for British pork once, although, I think they suggested Gruyere. I would still suggest you use Gruyere, but I don’t like it a great deal so I can happily recommend any strong melting cheese.You may be doubtful, but these are fairly classic flavour combinations. It’s also a very quick, very easy way to brighten up midweek pork chops.

To serve 2:

2 pork chops

4 tbsp apple sauce

100g(ish) strong cheese, grated

Grill your pork chop suntil cooked, a matter of 15 – 20 minutes, under a medium grill. When cooked, spread two tablespoons of apple sauce across each chop and sprinkle with melted cheese. Put back under the grill for a few minutes until sauce heats through and cheese has melted. Et voila!

As comfort food goes, this is possibly the best, certainly best return on effort I’ve found in a long, long time.More akin to baking cakes than breadmaking as we understand it, I can usually knock one up in ten minutes or so, and I would usually make two of these loaves at a time just because they go so quickly in my house. It goes for an afternoon snack, straight out of the oven, it goes with ham & eggs for dinner, it goes at breakfast time and in packed lunches. I imagine it would be perfect with a bowl of soup too.
This is my own recipe, but I have taken inspiration from Momma Cherri’s Soul in a Bowl Cookbook, and Jamie’s America

165g cornmeal (polenta)

125ml full fat milk

3 tbsp plain flour

2 eggs

30ml butter

1 tsp baking powder

half a large onion, thinly sliced

small bunch of spring onions, diced

200g sweetcorn – fresh from the cob is ideal, but it is January – canned or frozen is fine.

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

80g cheddar or similar hard cheese, grated

salt and pepper (quite a lot)

Melt your butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the two onions and cook, stirring regularly until they are soft and starting to brown a little. Add your sweet ccorn and cook for a few minutes more. Take off the heat to allow to cool down for a little while.

Preheat your oven to gas 6. In a large bowl addd your eggs (beaten), cornmeal, flour and milk. Stir, until combined. Add your cheese, chilli, thyme and salt and pepper and then add the onions/corn. Put in your baking powder, give a final thorough stir and then pour into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin, or deep sandwich tin and put into the oven for 40 mins or so. The cornbread is cooked when you stick a skewer or thin knife in, and it comes out clean.

It’s difficult to give you a recipe for this simply because I have no idea really of the quantities I use for anything in it, it has just become something I do completely by sight. I don’t really think it matters if you don’t want to put in the bacon, the mushrooms or the spring onions, and really the quantities are not that big in proportion to the rest of the dish – after all, this is mac n cheese, not bacon, mushroom & onion pasta. Plain macaroni cheese is still completely brilliant and well loved in this household. Alternatively simply exclude the bacon for a vegetarian dinner. I’d like to tell you this serves four, but to be completely truthful with you, it serves two of us with leftovers. And eating macaroni cheese cold the next day, is a priviledge that is mine alone in the Greedy household. If you wanted uber mac ‘n cheese you could easily top this dish with seasoned breadcrumbs before putting in the oven.

Preheat the oven to Gas 6. Firstly, cook the pasta in a very large saucepan as per packet instructions, drain and leave covered, to one side. In a shallow pan, fry your bacon pieces, and when it starts to brown, add your sliced mushrooms and spring onions together – the fat in the bacon should ensure you don’t need to add extra fat to fry it off but you could add a teaspoon of butter if it is very dry, if you’ve bought back bacon for instance. Then, make your white sauce and when cooked, turn off the heat and stir in three quarters of your grated cheese. Combine the pasta, cheese and bacon, mushroom and spring onion mixture in the pan you have cooked the pasta in and then pour into an ovenproof dish Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese over the top. Put in the oven for 20-30 minutes until piping hot the all way through, and brown on top. I think I’m supposed to suggest you serve this with salad or veg, but we never do. Scoff.

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